Blue Moon

[The Q]

A pretty Picture, not one of mine.. If any of you wish to watch or compete you're welcome..


Next year I might be able to compete in this in my own boat, But this year..


Start time around 10:00 Horning,
To a buoy Between the Dyke to Eastwoods and Acle Bridge.
To a buoy Between Womack Dyke and Potter Heigham Bridge,
And return to Horning, In light weather the start is often moved down to Horning waterworks..
Races are shortened to finish, with time to be lowed back to Horning before before sunset.

[The Q]

And so this weekend,
Drilled holes through cockpit sides, for jib sheets, and jib furler lines,then sanded and painted. Might require more painting.
Also drilled sanded and painted holes to mount rear view mirrors.

Rigged steering controls found a problem which requires a longer tiller arm, made fixed on, but requires nuts for the bolts not yet finished.
Varnished forward hatch, boat number board and cleat wedges..

A couple of pictures.
Hatches loosely in place the nearest stays with the boat when sailing.


A general view of, cleats mounted on wedges, a rear view mirror, the forward hatch, the forward number board, and one of the turning blocks for the jib sheets. They're sat on or leaning against the box I use to hold small bits to be used on the boat so they don't go and hide...

[The Q]

Mot much done this weekend, I found the rudder was harder to push in one direction than the other and it's very stiff..
Decided to add an additional washer bearing surface, the washer being from Tufnol, to bear on a tufnol fixed surface. This took a considerable time to make, but is now in place, with a little grease between the layers.. I still have to re drill a hole through for the main pin that locks the tiller arm to the shaft. Then it's try again time..

[The Q]

Well the Tufnol Washer did it's stuff and I moved the mounting points for the turning blocks to get a better angle..

The rudder /Steering  now works well... Except.. Fully over it locks up, and it also locks up if you make the ropes tight, so there is a lot of slack in the system not good for accurate steering.. So there is no way round it but I'm going to have to make a steering quadrant., I was trying to avoid that, as when I build the next rudder it will need a different quadrant..

So during this week I'll draw it up, it will be made of at least 3 layers of ply..

Other than that the holes through the Cockpit sides  and surrounding areas were sanded and a second coat of paint applied.. If it looks ok, next week the jib cleats and mirrors will be mounted.. and I might treat you to another picture or two.

[The Q]

[The Q]

Ah forgot to post the picture of installed cleats and mirrors..


So the next iteration of the rudder head has been a cross bar with the strings running forward and crossing sides between the rudder, behind the helm, then via some moved blocks to the steering controls. No pictures yet because it's a lash up to see if it works... and it did.. Even though it's a lash up, that took several hours work.

So the final version will need a spacer between the cross bar and the tufnol washer. The Cross bar may need some reinforcement and a spacer is needed so the crossing steering strings don't rub against each other..
So that's what is next weeks work, with some planning and design between now and then..

When the next rudder is built, I'm hoping to have the shaft 6 inches shorter, which means realigning the strings so thought is going into that as well..

[The Q]

Absolutely no work done on the steering this week, with a gale running down the North Sea on Friday / Saturday, the marquee roof was taken down, put over the boat and the boat trussed up like a turkey...

So into the workshop it was with the heater running.... To combat the hail, rain and generally yuk conditions..

I got the angle grinder out and cut a slot in the end of the Jib club tube, the slot was long enough for a sheave  and a bolt at the end of the tube to retain the jib outhaul going over the sheave so it didn't jump off.
 Much trimming till it was right, I'm going to use a dremel, probably next week to tidy up the odd corners the angle grinder couldn't get into..
 A block was selected to donate a sheave, one I made 20 years ago while in Saudi, where on night shift  I had the use of a full mechanical workshop next door to our radar lab.

 Then pilot holes were drilled for the pivot point of the Jib Boom and the vang at the fore end of the JIb boom.

I then raided various boxes stored around the place for boat fittings, this has provided horned cleats, cheek blocks,  normal blocks and all the necessary bits and pieces for rigging the boat..

Next week, finish the Jib Club, then hopefully a picture, and start taking down the pipe framework for the Marquee. There's no point putting the roof back on, once the poles are down I'll make preparations for putting the boat on the trailer...

[The Q]

There has been a series of gales,

First was storm Arwen, there were  100mph winds , about 9 days ago, it took out power to large parts of Eastern Scotland and North Eastern England, over 1 million homes lost power for several days, even today about 9 days later, some small areas still do not have power.

Then another depression came down the North Sea, not a named storm by the UK Met office , but the German Met office called it Daniel.. This was worse for south eastern and mid eastern England, though little power was lost..

Today storm Barra is hitting Ireland, and is expected to hit GB tomorrow then it's forecast to park itself over the UK while slowly filling..

Friday I had a use it or lose it day off, so I went to the motorboat, and spent a half day working on that. Winterising the generator, stripping redundant wiring out and working out what needs to be done next.. First fit a new bilge pump...

Saturday, house duties, actually, mobile home, working out how to fit a moving shelf unit on a sloping floor then constructing the method of fitting it..

Sunday, Sailing boat work,

The jib club was 99% finished, just a little tidying up such as cutting bolts down to they don't stick out beyond the locknuts. The main task was to be drilling a hole for the bottom fitting of the furler... Then I realised if it was just a hole the tension on the forestay would stop adjustment of the jib vang. So the hole became a slot, with very careful use of an angle grinder with either a cutting blade or a sanding disc.

Then came real fun drilling a pair of cross holes to stick the pin through the furler bottom fitting.. Lots of measuring looking at, remeasuring, then drilling.. and....  it fitted

Two loops were riveted in place one to stop the jib sheets from wandering up and down the tube, the other to hold the pivot point..

After this I started removing the first bay of tubing for the marquee, only one bay was done, because perched on top of a step ladder, facing the North Sea, with half a gale of very cold wind and drizzle was most unpleasant..

Next week I intend to get the rest down, move the boat trailer out, get the box trailer and put it in the place the boat trailer is currently. Whether or not the boat gets put on the trailer depends on the wind, I'm not having the boat waving around on the chain hoist in yet another gale..

[The Q]

A much warmer day, and the rest of the marquee tubing was removed.. Without hitting the boat once.

The boat trailer didn't want to come out of it's home for the couple of years, it had to come out backwards and kept going off line.. But it did come out, and once the Marquee was removed it was pushed as close as it could go to the boat. When the boat is on it's trailer then the whole thing will have to come out backwards  which could be fun....

Having a front tow ball makes life a lot easier moving the trailers around, once you can get the Landrover to the coupling....

The forecast for next weekend is light winds and no rain, should that come to pass, I will allocate two days to put the boat on the trailer and  fit the permanent adjustable props to hold the boat in place..

[The Q]

And now for something different,
a 1957 video of the Norfolk Broads,
 I recognise many of the places, some of the sailing boat which are still available for hire today.. and of course I've been in the pubs...

https://youtu.be/1_D1py-z6oQ

[The Q]

Piccies time.
First the jib club, in its rough place on the boat. Note the supervisor watching from a safe distance

The observant of you will notice, it's too long, by about 6inches, not sure how that happened, it's now back in to workshop to be modified..

We have lift off..


How it's being lifted.


Trailer in place, the boat decided to rest like this...


Blue moon has landed..


And the story of the two days..
Day 1
Marquee cover removed from boat, you can see that in a heap at the back of the boat.
Centre hatches removed.
Seat removed and placed on boat,
Lifting tackle attached, with strain gauge in place.
Boat lifted off slightly, all supporting blocks thrown to the side.
Picture taken, strain gauge read, about 30kg over weight...
Boat lifted 2ft, trailer pushed under.
Picture taken, boat being awkward.
Much pushing and shoving, managed to get aft end of keel to touch down on foam in the right place. Pivoted boat on keel a bit more pushing and shoving lowered boat to rest in the correct place.

First support arm fitted. This is centre stern. The arms are deliberately short, I have bought tube to fit and cut to size to extend to the correct length.
Then two side arms were  fitted..
Boat lowered into place..
Weighing scales under front wheel,  a bit too heavy..

Day 2
Two arms fitted on cross rail at back of trailer. This was a little awkward as the suspension units got in the way of the adjustment handle.. several moves and changes later and I was happy.
The first two arms were moved forward, to a better position..
Boat lifted just, and trailer pushed 2 inches forward,
Boat lowered , weight scales indicate 75kg.. good.

Lifting plate and strain gauge removed,
Crane lowered to minimum height, chain hoist removed, and placed in its bucket of oil, till it's needed again.
 New sheet of plastic cut, placed over boat, trussed up like a turkey.

Left to do on the trailer,

Fit mud guards,

Fit missing 8mm stainless lock nuts, which I ran out of today, and have just ordered more.

Cut off excess length of various bolts which came as part of the arm kits.

More zinc paint required in some places..

Each arm should get greased up, but that will have to await the boat being launched.

 

Left to do on the boat,

The seat is now in the workshop for a sand and varnish,

the jib club is back in the workshop ..

I need to turn up a top halyard wheel for the mast

The mast needs new halyards installing.

The hull needs a rub down of some scratches and repainting in a few places, and the Bottom needs antifouling.

At some point after halyard installation, the mast needs to be put in place for the other rigging to be sorted out..

 

The crane frame  needs taking down, that's next week's task. That will give more access room to clear up the area..



 

[Chris Waite]

Interesting pictures Q

A couple of points -

1.  If it's come up before, I've forgotten, but what is the small bulb abutting the hull at the forward end of the keel; I have a vague recollection of there being something about improved hydrodynamics??

2.  The club boom for the headsail; it's not apparent in the mock-up of course, but the forward extension has reminded me that if you pivot it a few inches back from the tack it becomes self-vanging, staying much flatter.  Is that on the cards?

Chris W

[The Q]

The forward extension of the keel at the root is called a dillet. It's supposed to reduce drag, see here..
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/keel-design-issues.4874/

The forward extension of the jib club, forms part of an adjustable vang, you take a thin rope from its forward end, up the mast, in this case to the spinnaker block, as I won't be using a spinnaker. Then back down the mast to the helm. If you pull on the rope, you increase the vang tension. More accurate than a self vanging jib. It's an idea I stole from the international canoe class..

[Chris Waite]

Thanks for the explanation, Q

I thought I remembered something about the flow round the keel.  As for the jib vang arrangement, while I understand, at some stage I feel the cordage has to stop and I actually keep trying to strip more away from my boats.

One man's etcetera....

Chris W

[The Q]

Well the boat spent a week and a bit wrapped in plastic against the weather.

I've made a weed diverter. Like the one on the RS Elite website, no scales are on the photo, so I made the fins the width of the rudder apart.
Also the leading edge of the plate is a half circle that squared off end offended me. That will be attached when hull painting is finished.


We've had several days of record warm temperatures for the time of year, 15C, so I took the cover off to do some work and discovered just the tie down ropes were causing the paint to peel. Further investigation showed it was soft and hadn't stuck to the hull properly., Later it showed to be soft everywhere, but had not stuck properly over about half the hull in scattered patches..


My fault ? Or the manufacturer? It's not a well known brand of marine paint I used, it is much cheaper than say international paints. Anyway I've bought a can of Toplac to replace it with, it's a stronger light blue than I wanted. (squall blue) but I'm not messing with it, it will be applied as per the instructions.


So the decision was to strip the soft paint off and start again.


First I tried a hot air gun and scraper.. 40mph winds from the warm south defeated that..


Then I tried a sander with conventional paper... Paper clogged up almost instantly


Then I tried non clog sanding mesh.. it clogged up instantly.


So at this point I got aggressive, and angle grinder With a scotch bright sanding pad..


That worked , I cleared the hull of the soft paint in one day, not too many extra deep scrapes and none through the glassfibre, just through the hull smoothing filler. (The hull is a glassfibre / plywood/ glassfibre sandwich).


The next day the scrapes were filled.


After a day off due to rain , the hull was sanded using the conventional sand paper.. lots of it..


The next day, yesterday, the whole hull was given a coat of VCtar2, with second coats on the leading edge of the keel and rudder.. unfortunately I've run out of VCtar2, and the chandler's closed until Wednesday. I want to put another coat of VCtar2 below the waterline..


So today the plastic covers will go back on, we have a reversal in weather forecast from Wednesday, cold freezing weather from the north..


As it is I couldn't continue to work on the hull this week, towards the end of working on the boat yesterday my left knee gave way, in great pain, it did it again late yesterday evening, and again this morning trying to come downstairs..

[The Q]

As it appears I'm the first to post in 2022, A happy new year to you all..

Not much was done to the boat this weekend, a second coat was put on the hull below the water line, and another couple of pad support areas done on the hull. Hopefully next week I'll use up the rest of the can doing the remaining pad areas, and any left will coat the vulnerable areas again.
Also the boat seat was given a coat of varnish., next week I'll turn it over and do the other side..

[The Q]

This weekend nothing exciting, the work was sanding above the waterline, and giving that two coats of Pre-Kote.
and finishing off coating the bottom with VCTar2.. Just a little in the can left to second coat where the remaining support pads are..

The forecast is 7C or Less for the week so it looks doubtful I'll get onto top coating next week, so thoughts are on Mast refurbishment..

The first thing for that is a new top wheel for the main halyard, unfortunately as far as I can find, they are no longer made, So I've a round bar of Acetal to turn into a wheel, for that I need the lathe, so that will have to be moved into the workshop..

Then that wonderful joy of feeding two halyards down the mast... Only one old one is currently in place to act as a pull through.

Other than that it just needs a block on the spinnaker crane to run a rope though for the Jib Vang, and a good clean ..
Just an amateur bodging away..

[The Q]

We had a meltdown of our bathroom heater and lighting system, so a major part of the weekend was spent replacing them. Of course the original types are no longer available, so it wasn't easy.

So time on the boat was limited.

The above water line hull was wet and dried. Other than a clean down it's ready for top coating.

The chair received its last coat of varnish and is back in the boat,

The lathe has been moved to the workshop, it's not fully installed yet, but has been tested without load..

[inwe]

What lathe have you got ?

Richard

[The Q]

it's only a cheap Clarke wood lathe I bought 20 years ago, they don't make that one any more, it was bought to make some spindles for our stairs. The house is over 100 years old so you couldn't buy them the same..
The stairs spindles had been "Barry Bucknell'd " ie covered in hardboard, but the nails had broken many spindles.. I've made a few other things on it since.

This time I'm wanting to make a new top "wheel" for the main halyard, I couldn't find one online the right size, most are too wide. So I've bought an acetal rod of the right Diameter (19mm), I'll pin it between the chuck and the tailstock and use one or two of the small chisel set to make the hollow, then cheat and use a hacksaw on it to cut it off at the right length. Much less waste than chiselling it to size, actually I'll probably make some spares at the same time..

I've done this before and made complete sheaves and locks, but I had access to a metal lathe, then which I would have preferred..